Квентин Тарантино: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The First Novel By Quentin Tarantino

RICK DALTON—Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick’s a washed-up villain-of-the-week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it?

CLIFF BOOTH—Rick’s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he’s the only one there who might have gotten away with murder …

SHARON TATE—She left Texas to chase a moviestar dream and found it. Sharon’s salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills.

CHARLES MANSON—The ex-con’s got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he’s their spiritual leader, but he’d trade it all to be a rock ’n’ roll star.

HOLLYWOOD 1969—

      YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERE

This book is dedicated to

My Wife

DANIELLA

and My Son

LEO

Thanks for creating a happy home from which to write in.

ALSO

To all the actor Old Timers who told me tremendous stories about Hollywood in this period.

And it’s because of them that you hold this book in your hands now.

Bruce Dern * David Carradine * Burt Reynolds

Robert Blake * Michael Parks * Robert Forster

and

especially

Kurt Russell

COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS

A FILM BY QUENTIN TARANTINO

LEONARDO DICAPRIO BRAD PITT 

MARGOT ROBBIE

IN

ONCE UPON A TIME

IN HOLLYWOOD

MARGARET QUALLEY TIMOTHY OLYPHANT

JULIA BUTTERS DAKOTA FANNING BRUCE DERN 

AND

AL PACINO

TECHNICOLOR ®

PRODUCED BY

DAVID HEYMAN SHANNON MCINTOSH 

QUENTIN TARANTINO

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY

QUENTIN TARANTINO

Once Upon

a Time

in Hollywood

A Novel

by Quentin Tarantino

Contents

Cover

Hollywood 1969

Dedication

Columbia Pictures Presents

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Acknowledgements

Adverts

Copyright

Chapter One

“Call Me Marvin”

The buzzer on Marvin Schwarz’s desk Dictaphone makes a noise. The William Morris agent’s finger holds the lever down on the box. “Is that my ten-thirty you’re buzzing me about, Miss Himmelsteen?”

“Yes it is, Mr. Schwarz,” his secretary’s voice pipes out of the tiny speaker. “Mr. Dalton is waiting outside.”

Marvin pushes down the lever again. “I’m ready when you are, Miss Himmelsteen.”

When the door to Marvin’s office opens, his young secretary, Miss Himmelsteen, steps in first. She’s a twenty-one-year-old woman of the hippie persuasion. She sports a white miniskirt that shows off her long tan legs and wears her long brown hair in Pocahontas-style pigtails that hang down each side of her head. The handsome forty-two-year-old actor Rick Dalton, and his de rigueur glistening wet brown pompadour, follow behind her.

Marvin’s smile grows wide as he stands up from the chair behind his desk. Miss Himmelsteen tries to do the introductions, but Marvin cuts her off. “Miss Himmelsteen, since I just finished watching a Rick Dalton fuckin’ film festival, no need to introduce this man to me.” Marvin crosses the distance between them, sticking out his hand for the cowboy actor to shake. “Put ’er there, Rick.”

Rick smiles and gives the agent’s hand a big pumping shake. “Rick Dalton. Thank you very much, Mr. Schwartz, for taking the time to meet me.”

Marvin corrects him. “It’s Schwarz , not Schwartz.”

Jesus Christ, I’m fuckin’ this whole thing up already , Rick thinks.

“Goddammit to hell … I’m sorry about that … Mr. Sch-WARZ.”

As Mr. Schwarz does a final shake of the hand, he says, “Call me Marvin.”

“Marvin, call me Rick.”

“Rick …”

They let go of each other’s hand.

“Can Miss Himmelsteen get you a tasty beverage?”

Rick waves the offer away. “No, I’m fine.”

Marvin insists. “Are you sure, nothing? Coffee, Coke, Pepsi, Simba?”

“Alright,” Rick says. “Maybe a cup of coffee.”

“Good.” Clapping the actor on his shoulder, Marvin turns to his young girl Friday. “Miss Himmelsteen, would you be so kind as to get my friend Rick here a cup of coffee, and I’ll have one myself.”

The young lady nods her head in the affirmative and crosses the length of the office. As she starts to close the door behind her, Marvin yells after her, “Oh, and none of that Maxwell House rotgut they got in the break room. Go to Rex’s office,” Marvin instructs. “He’s always got the classiest coffee—but none of that Turkish shit,” Marvin warns.

“Yes, sir,” Miss Himmelsteen answers, then turns to Rick. “How do you take your coffee, Mr. Dalton?”

Rick turns to her and says, “Haven’t you heard? Black is beautiful.”

Marvin lets out a Klaxon-like guffaw, while Miss Himmelsteen covers her mouth with her hand as she giggles. Before his secretary can close the door behind her, Marvin yells out, “Oh, and Miss Himmelsteen, short of my wife and kids dead on the highway, hold all my calls. In fact, if my wife and kids are dead, well, they’ll all be just as dead thirty minutes from now, so hold all my calls.”

The agent gestures for the actor to sit on one of two leather sofas that face each other, a glass-top coffee table in between, and Rick makes himself comfortable.

“First things first,” the agent says. “I send you greetings from my wife, Mary Alice Schwarz! We had a Rick Dalton double feature in our screening room last night.”

“Wow. That’s both flattering and embarrassing,” Rick says. “What did ya see?”

“Film prints of Tanner and The Fourteen Fists of McCluskey. ”

“Well, them are two of the good ones,” Rick says. “ McCluskey was directed by Paul Wendkos. He’s my favorite of all my directors. He made Gidget. I was supposed to be in that. Tommy Laughlin got my part.” But then he magnanimously waves it away. “But that’s okay, I like Tommy. He got me in the first big play I ever did.”

“Really?” Marvin asks. “You’ve done a lot of theater?”

“Not much,” he says. “I get bored doing the same shit again and again.”

“So Paul Wendkos is your favorite director, huh?” Marvin asks.

“Yeah, I started out with him in my early days. I’m in his Cliff Robertson picture, Battle of the Coral Sea. You can see me and Tommy Laughlin hangin’ out in the back of the submarine the whole damn picture.”

Marvin makes one of his declarative industry statements: “Paul-fuckin’-Wendkos. Underrated action specialist .”

“Very true,” Rick agrees. “And when I landed Bounty Law , he came on and directed about seven or eight episodes.”

“So,” Rick asks, fishing for a compliment, “I hope the Rick Dalton double feature wasn’t too painful for you and the Mrs.?”

Marvin laughs. “Painful? Stop. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.” Marvin continues, “So Mary Alice and I watched Tanner . Mary Alice doesn’t like the violence in modern movies these days, so I saved McCluskey to watch by myself after she went to bed.”